› added 12 years ago

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TIL that some people, due to a rare genetic mutation, only need to sleep for about four hours a night. Margaret Thatcher, James Franco, and Martha Stewart have all been suspected to have this condition.

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via reddit.com

GYyPG TIL that During the 1990s, Raul Cano, a microbiologist at California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo, revived yeast trapped in amber for 25 million years. Cano went on to found a brewery and crafted an "amber ale" with a 45-million-year-old variant of Saccharomyces cerevisiae.
LnWZ TIL scientists are building a telescope with mirrors that are 8.4 meters across but less than 25 nanometers of deviation from a perfect parabolic curve
xVdnb TIL that many ancient papyri (and knowledge about Ptolemaic Egypt) were discovered after a workman, frustrated with having discovered yet another crocodile mummy, threw it and broke it, leading to the discovery that some ancient mummies were stuffed with written papyri
pDoA TIL Israel Kamakawiwo'ole recorded his version of Somewhere Over the Rainbow at a spur of the moment 3 am recording session, in just one take.
x6EMk TIL forks were once considered an affront to God